The City Director of Finance shall exercise his powers and perform his duties pursuant to the following rules and regulations:
(a) Requisition Required. All purchases shall be made upon requisition signed by the officer in charge of the department for which the supplies or materials are needed. The requisition shall be filed with the Director of Finance, who shall thereupon direct his order to the person from whom it is proposed to purchase the supplies or materials, requiring such person to deliver the supplies to the person in charge of the department for which ordered. The person supplying the materials shall make out his bill at the contract price and send the bill with the goods to the officer in charge of the department for which they were ordered.
It shall be the duty of the officer to examine the goods delivered and the quantity thereof, and if he finds the quantity as stated in the order and the quality of the grade ordered, he shall endorse the bill with a statement that the goods have been received and the quantity and quality found to be correct, and return the bill and the order upon which it was furnished to the person originating the order, who shall file the order with the Director of Finance for approval and payment. If found incorrect, or if the quality is below the standard and grade ordered, the officer in charge shall refuse to accept the goods and shall notify the Director of Finance to that effect, and the person furnishing the goods shall be notified by the officer in charge of the department that the goods can only remain where delivered at the risk of the person delivering.
(b) Unauthorized Purchases. Except as herein provided, no City officer shall order the purchase of any supplies or make any contract within the purview of this article, other than through the Director of Finance, and any purchase ordered or contract made contrary to the provisions hereof, shall not be approved by the Director of Finance, and the City shall not be bound thereby.
(c) Competitive Bidding Required. All purchases of and contracts for supplies and contractual services, and all sales of personal property which have become obsolete and unusable shall, except as specifically provided herein, be based, wherever possible, on competitive bids.
(d) Contract Procedure for Architect-Engineer Services. All contractual services for Architect-Engineer services shall be in accordance with West Virginia Code Chapter 5G as amended.
(Ord. 0-940. Passed 1-11-00.)
(Ord. 0-940. Passed 1-11-00.)
(e) Contract Procedure for All Other Contracts. All other supplies and contractual services, except otherwise provided in this article, when the estimated cost thereof is twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or more shall be purchased by inviting proposals.
(1) Notice inviting bids.
A. Notice inviting bids shall be published once in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the City and at least five days preceding the last day set for the receiving of proposals. Such notice shall include a general description for the articles to be purchased or sold, and shall state where specifications may be secured, and the time and place for opening bids.
B. The Director of Finance shall also solicit sealed bids from all responsible perspective suppliers who have requested their names be added to a "bidders' list" which the Director of Finance shall maintain, by sending them a copy of such newspaper notice or such other notice to acquaint them with the proposed purchase or sale. In any case, invitations sent to the vendors on the bidders' list shall be limited in commodities that are similar in character and ordinarily handled by the trade group to which the invitations are sent. (Ord. 0-1720. Passed 12-13-22.)
(2) Bidders' deposit. When deemed necessary by the Director of Finance, bid deposits shall be prescribed in the public notices inviting bids. Unsuccessful bidders shall be entitled to return of surety where the Director of Finance has required such. A successful bidder shall forfeit any surety required by the Agent upon failure on his part to enter a contract within ten days after the award.
(3) Bid opening procedure. Bids shall be submitted, sealed, to the Director of Finance and shall be identified as bids on the envelope. Bids shall be opened in public at the time and place stated in the public notices unless it is publicly announced by the Director of Finance at that time that the receipt of bids is being extended for a time not to exceed two weeks therefrom. A tabulation of all bids received shall be posted for public inspection.
(4) Rejection of bids. The Director of Finance shall have the authority to reject all bids, parts of bids, or all bids for any one or more supplies or contractual services included in the proposed contract, when the public interest will be served thereby. This statement shall appear in all invitations for bids.
(5) Award of contract. Contracts shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. In determining the lowest responsible bidder, in addition to price, the Director of Finance shall consider:
A. The ability, capacity and skill of the bidder to perform the contract or provide the services required;
B. The character, integrity, reputation, judgment, experience and efficiency of the bidder;
C. The quality of performance of other contracts or services;
D. The sufficiency of the financial resources and ability of the bidder to perform the contract or provide the services;
E. The ability of the bidder to provide future maintenance and service for the use of the subject of the contract.
(6) Award to other than low bidder. When the award is not given to the lowest bidder, a full and complete statement of the reasons for placing the order elsewhere shall be prepared by the Director of Finance and filed with other paper relating to the transaction.
(7) Tie bids.
A. Local vendors. If all bids received are for the same total amount or unit price, quality and service being equal, the contract shall be awarded to a bidder residing or doing business in the City.
B. Outside vendors. Where subsection (7)A. hereof is not in effect, the Director of Finance shall award the contract to one of the tie bidders by drawing lots in public.
(8) Performance bonds. The Director of Finance shall have authority to require a performance bond before entering a contract, in such amount as he finds reasonably necessary to protect the best interests of the City.
(9) Prohibition against subdivision. No contract or purchase shall be subdivided to avoid the requirements of this section.
(10) Preference for resident vendors.
A. In any instance that a purchase of supplies or contractual services by the Director of Finance is required under the provisions of this article to be made upon competitive bids and the quality and service of some or all bidders being equal applying the criteria in subsection (e)(5) hereof, such purchase, where permitted under Federal law, shall be made from a vendor resident in the State, if such bid does not exceed the lowest qualified bid from a nonresident vendor by more than two percent (2%) of the latter bid and if the resident vendor has made written claim for such preference at the time the bid was submitted.
B. For the purpose of considering the amount of a bid by a resident vendor, the amount of business and occupation taxes which must be paid by such resident vendor to the City as a result of being awarded the contract which is the object of the bid, shall be excluded.
C. For the purpose of considering the amount of a bid by a resident vendor, in the case of a bid for financial services, the principal amount of the loan shall be excluded.
D. A vendor shall be deemed to be a resident of this State if such vendor is an individual, partnership, association or corporation in good standing under the laws of the State who:
1. Is a resident of the State or a foreign corporation authorized to transact business in the State;
2. Maintains an office in the State;
3. Has paid personal property taxes pursuant to West Virginia Code Article 11-5 on equipment used in the regular course of supplying services of the general type offered; and
4. Has paid business and occupation taxes pursuant to West Virginia Code Article 11-13. In addition, in the case of a vendor selling tangible personal property, a resident vendor is one who has a stock of materials held in the State for sale in the ordinary course of business, which stock is of the general type offered and which is reasonably sufficient in quantity to meet the ordinary requirements of customers.
(Ord. 0-940. Passed 1-11-00.)
(11) Use of local labor. In any instance that a purchase of services is made upon competitive bids and such service shall entail the use of labor to construct, adapt, restore, remodel or demolish any building, road, bridge, park or other public works, the following shall apply:
A. Utilization of business. Each contractor and subcontractor undertaking work for a City of Parkersburg project shall assure that to the greatest extent feasible, work to be performed in connection with the project is awarded to business concerns located within the local area.
B. Good Faith Effort. Each contractor and subcontractor shall make a good faith effort to fill all vacant positions during the length of the project work with local area residents. These Good Faith Efforts will include:
1. Attempt to recruit through local advertising media, signs placed at the proposed site and community organizations and public and private institutions operating within or serving the project area such as the State Employment Office.
2. Maintain a list of area residents who have applied either on their own or on referral from any source and employ such person if otherwise eligible and/or qualified and if a vacancy exists. If no vacancies exist, the eligibility and/or qualifications of the applicant shall be considered and listed for the first available opening.
C. Certificate of compliance. The contractor shall execute the certificate of compliance and cause all subcontractors undertaking work in connection with this work to furnish the same. An individual shall be deemed a local area resident if his or her primary residence is located within Wood, Wirt, Pleasants, Ritchie and Jackson County in West Virginia or in Washington County, Ohio and such residence is recognized as their legal residence by their respective State Department of Motor Vehicles.
(Ord. 0-1430. Passed 11-13-12.)
(f) Open Market Procedure. All purchases of supplies and contractual services of less than the estimated value of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) shall be made in the open market, without newspaper advertisement, and without observing the procedure prescribed for the awarding of contracts involving sums in excess of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000).
(1) Minimum number of bids. All open market purchases shall, wherever possible, be based upon at least three competitive bids, and shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder in accordance with the standards set forth for the awarding of contracts involving sums in excess of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000).
(Ord. 0-1299. Passed 3-25-08.)
(2) Notice inviting bids. The Finance Director shall solicit bids by telephone and/or direct mail request to prospective vendors.
(3) Recording. The Finance Director shall keep a record of all open market orders and the bids received in competition thereon, and such records shall also be open to public inspection.
(Ord. 0-1238. Passed 7-25-06.)
(g) Emergency Purchases.
(1) By Director of Finance. In case of an apparent emergency which requires immediate purchase of supplies or contractual services, the Mayor or department head shall be empowered to authorize the Director of Finance to secure by open market procedure, as herein set forth, at the lowest obtainable price, any supplies or contractual services, regardless of the amount of the expenditure, but subject always, however, to any prohibition contained in the Charter, Codified Ordinances or applicable statutes of the State. A full report of the circumstances of an emergency purchase shall be filed by the Director of Finance with Council and shall be entered in the minutes of Council and shall be open to public inspection.
(2) By heads of a department. In case of actual emergency, the head of any department may purchase directly any supplies whose immediate procurement is essential to prevent delays in the work of the using department or agency, which may vitally affect the life, health or convenience of residents. The department head shall send to the Director of Finance a requisition, and a copy of the delivery record, together with a full written report of the circumstances of the emergency. The report shall be filed with Council as hereinbefore provided.
(Ord. 0-620. Passed 5-14-91.)
(h) Any and all contracts proposed to be or entered into by the City that involve or that are anticipated to involve the expenditure of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) or more shall be a formal written contract.
(Ord. 0-1299. Passed 3-25-08.)